Cardiothoracic Surgery refers to operations that treat diseases affecting the heart (cardio) and lungs (thoracic).

Physicians in this specialty treat patients suffering from numerous diseases and illnesses, but some of the most common are mesothelioma, lung cancer, congenital heart disease, lung disease, pectus excavatum, thymoma, aortic aneurysm, cardiovascular disease, esophageal carcinoma, pulmonary metastases, chest wall tumors, esophageal diseases, tracheal tumors, malignant pleural effusions, and thoracic neoplasms.

Once properly diagnosed, practitioners can perform numerous procedures on patients including lobectomy, mediastinoscopy, mitral valve replacement, lung transplantation, ventricular assist device, lung volume reduction, aortic dissection, coronary artery bypass graft (cabg), coronary artery bypass surgery, mitral valve repair, heart transplantation, miniminally invasive surgery (mis), ventricular restoration (dor procedure), video-assisted thoracoscopy (vats), bullectomy, arrhythmia surgery, and thoracic aorta repairs.

To diagnose patients with possible illnesses and diseases, specialists will often perform one of many tests including biopsy, x-ray, magnetic resonance imaging (mri), electrocardiogram (ecg or ekg), upper gi (barium swallow), computed axial tomography (ct or cat scan), and physicial examination.

Doctor density varies by specialty and location. The United States has 4,277 practicing cardiothoracic surgeons. Broken out by state, cardiothoracic surgery doctor density in Alabama is 60, in Alaska is 3, in Arizona is 77, in Arkansas is 33, in California is 483, in Colorado is 50, in Connecticut is 58, in Delaware is 27, in District of Columbia is 39, in Florida is 292, in Georgia is 106, in Hawaii is 15, in Idaho is 17, in Illinois is 225, in Indiana is 138, in Iowa is 49, in Kansas is 42, in Kentucky is 72, in Louisiana is 63, in Maine is 17, in Maryland is 98, in Massachusetts is 176, in Michigan is 144, in Minnesota is 56, in Mississippi is 46, in Missouri is 125, in Montana is 16, in Nebraska is 17, in Nevada is 31, in New Hampshire is 15, in New Jersey is 144, in New Mexico is 25, in New York is 343, in North Carolina is 138, in North Dakota is 9, in Ohio is 232, in Oklahoma is 37, in Oregon is 46, in Pennsylvania is 271, in Rhode Island is 16, in South Carolina is 53, in South Dakota is 10, in Tennessee is 86, in Texas is 304, in Utah is 28, in Vermont is 6, in Virginia is 103, in Washington is 81, in West Virginia is 52, in Wisconsin is 89, and in Wyoming is 7.